Lithograph

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", February 1994, page 23

Ed Hunt of Apache Junction, Arizona sent in this great lithograph showing two Texas cowboys shooting insulators. Caption reads: "Texas Cattle Herders Indulging in Revolver Practice on Telegraph Line." "The problem must have been serious to rate front page attention! But what better a target -- unmoving, glistening in the sun with the shooter probably thinking 'When's the last time I received a telegram?' Up through the 1920's, Western Union was still advertising a $25 reward for the arrest of persons damaging their 'wires, insulators or poles'."

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